[Fight #9]
Yasuhiro Kido vs. Leroy Kaestner
Round 1
Kido walks to the center of the ring and immediately lands some crisp lows and jabs before Leroy is really in fight-mode, but they soon wake the Dutchman up and he answers with some solid body punches of his own.
Kido seems to be landing the jab well, and using his reach, but then Leroy turns things on and lands a combination of 6 or 7 punches, all of which land very solidly.
The Japanese fighter then answers with some high knees, and ends the round with a clean head kick that backs Leroy up.
Round 2
They oblige each other by trading shots in the middle of the ring, and Kido lands a solid looking spinning back-fist before they clinch and exchange knees.
Leroy is working the low kick as much as Kido now, and every punch he lands is very audible.
Both fighters are landing some menacing looking shots, but it is Kido’s low kicks to Leroy’s back leg that seems to be causing the most trouble right now.
Round 3
They start the round as fast-paced as they ended the second, but Kido stings Leroy with a punch combination and flurries on him in the corner. Leroy clinches and tries to trip Kido before the referee warns him for it.
Kido smells blood here though, and attacks the back leg with everything he has. He gets a little carried away though, and it resulted in a knee going to the groin.
After the restart Kido earns perhaps the first ever down due to punching the thigh of his opponent. Leroy was doing so well at covering the low kick that Kido used his reach to throw a hook to the thigh of Leroy, and after a scream of pain he went down.
No self-respecting fighter coming out of Peter Aerts’ gym would stay down though, and Leroy got to his feet and fought on. He did go down once more from another punch to the thigh just before the bell rang ending the fight.
With this victory Kido has earned a reserve spot in the finals.